Higher
English
Close
Reading
Sentence structure
Features of Structure
The first step to success in a structure question is being able to identify features of
structure. These features are not limitless and you can familiarise yourself with them
and the kind of effects they have. You should already have some skill in identifying
and analysing structural features from your Intermediate 2 and Standard Grade
courses. Furthermore, your teacher will probably direct you to one of the many helpful
chapters in school text books in order to further consolidate your skills.
Here is a reminder of some of the key features of structure to look out for when
answering a question. Before you read it, test yourself by writing down the key
features you need to look out for when answering a structure question, then see how
it compares to the list below.
WORD ORDER
 Does the arrangement of the words in the sentences create a notable effect?
 Do sentences begin or end with words that emphasise or dramatise the
writer's views?
 Is there an inversion or alteration of the expected word order?
SENTENCE LENGTH
 Is there a variety of sentence lengths?
 Are there any short sentences that stand out? (Short sentences can often have
dramatic impact).
 Is where they are placed significant? (beginning or end of a paragraph). Are
they emphasised by being in a paragraph of their own?
 Is the type of sentence significant? (questions, statements, exclamations,
commands, conjecture).
REPETITION
 Are any words or phrases repeated?
 Is there a pattern to the repetition?
 What is the effect of this?
PUNCTUATION
 You need to be aware of how colons, semi colons, dashes, inverted commas
and other punctuation marks function.
 Lists, separated by commas or semi colons are often a feature. You need to be
able to identify and explain their effect.
a) Do they contribute to climax or anti climax? (see below).
b) What is the content of the list?
c) Is its effect accumulative or climactic?
CLIMAX / ANTI CLIMAX
 Is there a build towards a climax of sorts in the paragraphs?
 Has the writer deliberately ordered any lists for effect?
 The final item on a list is often emphasised by its positioning.
 Has point or observation been delayed for effect?
Deconstructing Recent Exam Questions on Structure
If we examine some recent examples of structure questions from past
Higher Close Reading papers, we will see that they are consistent
(hence predictable) in their format and the demands they make on the
candidate.
The more familiar you become with structure questions the less
chance you have of being overwhelmed by them.
In fact the first step to success with this type of question is to
recognise the support built into the question itself.
The following questions (abridged and adapted) are taken from recent
exam papers.
1.
2.
How does the structure highlight the writer's ideas?
Show how sentence structure emphasises the devastation
...
3. Identify two ways by which sentence structure
emphasises the writer's feelings in lines...
4. How does the writer's sentence structure stress the
seriousness of the problem?
5. How does the writer use sentence structure to
demonstrate his strength of feeling?
6. Show how the sentence structure highlights the writer's
views.
7. How does sentence structure emphasise the writer's
belief?
8. How does the sentence structure emphasise the writer's
feelings?
9. Show how sentence structure demonstrates the writer's
strength of feeling
10. By referring to sentence structure show how you are made
aware of how strongly this person feels about...
Note: Questions specifically on punctuation sometimes appear in the
paper. For example: "How does the writer use punctuation to help
you understand what she is saying?" A sound knowledge of the
function of commonly used punctuation marks - such as the comma,
colon, semi-colon, inverted commas, brackets, and dashes - is essential.
If you look carefully at questions a to j, you will see that they are
virtually identical in format and demand.
 They are Analysis questions so your marks will come from
"showing how" the writer's use of sentence structure has a
particular effect.
 If you remove the part of the question that tells you what to do
- the "show how" - you are left with a statement that indicates
the effect - "structure highlights" - and the aspect of the
text affected - "the writer's ideas".
For example - question 5 tells you that "structure ... demonstrates
(the writer's) strength of feeling"
This is very helpful as you might not have been aware of this had the
question not pointed it out!
 If you now replace the part of the question that tells you what to
do, you realise that you "simply" have to explain or show how
structure does what the question says it does.
 Of course it is not quite that "simple": analysing the effect of
sentence length, or commenting appropriately on word order,
requires practice. However if you recognise the way in which the
question is designed to help you then you are halfway there.
 Further inspection of the question reveals that the effect structure
has is virtually always one of "emphasis", or its synonyms such as
"stress" or "highlighting". So structure stresses the seriousness of
a problem, emphasises strength of feeling, emphasises
devastation, highlights views, emphasises belief and so on.
 The question asks you to "Show how" sentence structure achieves
this emphasis. If you know that in lines x to y sentence structure
emphasises the writer's feelings, and if you are aware of the
structural features to look out for as you are reading these lines,
then your task is to:
1. Identify the features of structure used in the lines indicated.
2. Explain or "show how" the features you identify emphasise
the writer's feelings.
In other words, your task is to Analyse.
Marks
Example 1
Example 1 In this extract Alan Hamilton discusses the character of the Scottish people. In the
opening paragraph he quotes the English essayist, Charles Lamb who said: "/ have been trying all
my life to like Scotchmen, and I'm obliged to desist from the experiment in despair."
Here is paragraph 2.
Lamb was articulating what a good many Englishmen and other more distant foreigners have felt before and since,
that a Scotsman's motives are impenetrable and his finer qualities are, to say the least, elusive. The Scottish race has
been variously and plentifully accused of being dour, mean, venal, sly, narrow, slothful, sluttish, nasty, dirty,
immoderately drunken, embarrassingly sentimental, masterfully hypocritical, and a blueprint for disaster when eleven
of them are together on a football field.
(2A)
Show how the structure of the second sentence contributes to the writer's tone.
General Advice
We are being asked to comment on how the writer uses sentence structure to add
something to the tone. Remember tone ?
 Tone is about the mood or feeling created in a piece of writing.
Remember sentence structure?
 Sentence structure is about how the writer has put the sentence together. (Look
back at Features of Structure.)
Specific Advice
Go to the second sentence – read to the end of the list ‘masterfully hypocritical,’
You are being asked to do two things:1. identify one technique (a feature of the sentence structure) – there is a list – why?
2. comment on how the list adds to/suggests the tone
Go to the second sentence – read from ‘and’ to the end of the sentence
You are being asked to do two things:1. identify one technique (a feature of the sentence structure)
2. comment on how the list adds to/suggests the tone
Continue in this step-by-step manner until you have written enough to gain the
full number of marks.
Helping Hand
You will identify the length of sentence and use of the long list easily enough, but look closely at
how the list progresses and builds to its climax/punchline. Make sure you name the "tone".
Model answer
The list of all the negative characteristics attributed to the Scottish people is
somewhat tongue-in-cheek - each word in the list has increasingly negative
connotations – ‘dour’ suggest the Scots are are unhappy race while ‘masterfully
hypocritical’ is much more scathing suggesting that the Scots are very good at
deluding themselves.
Reinforcement Pack
Structure Questions
2
Contents
Marks
Example 2
In this extract from his book "Behind the Wall: A Journey through China",
Colin Thubron is questioning a man and his daughter about their experience of
being exiled during the Chinese "Cultural Revolution" which took place
between 1966-76. During this time millions were killed or persecuted and
starvation was rife. It is still a touchy subject to discuss and this is reflected in
the short opening paragraph.
I blundered on: "Were you away long then? I mean during the" - I hoisted the name gingerly-Cultural
Revolution."
Show how the sentence structure of the opening paragraph (lines 1-2) indicates that the
writer feels his question may be tactless or insensitive.
General Advice
We are being asked to comment on how the writer uses sentence structure
to show how she feels about the questions she has asked.
Remember sentence structure?
 Sentence structure is about how the writer has put the sentence
together. (Look back at Features of Structure.)
Specific Advice
Go to the first part of the sentence – up to the colon – note you are not
being asked about word choice!
1. Look for one feature of the sentence structure or punctuation – what is it?
– use of colon – what does a colon do? Relate it to the text!
2. comment on how it shows her insensitivity
Go to the next part of the sentence
1. Look for another feature of the sentence structure or punctuation – what is
it?
2. comment on how it shows her insensitivity
Continue in this step-by-step manner until you have written enough to
gain the full number of marks.
Helping Hand
Punctuation and sentence length/type are obviously important in this
answer, but if you recognise and explain the effect of word order it will
help you gain full marks.
Reinforcement Pack
Structure Questions
Contents
(2A)
Reinforcement Pack
Structure Questions
Contents
Marks
Example 3
Example 3 In this extract Andy Medhurst is reflecting on children's television. At this
point he is "decoding" the appeal of cantankerous, rebellious animated characters to
children, using "Edd the Duck" as an example.
...the puppet becomes a surrogate for one of their own number, a noisy brat who refuses to conform to
adult notions of decorum.
This is the strategy taken up by Edd the Duck, who is childish monstrousness personified, the return of the
quacking repressed. Edd interrupts when he shouldn't, snatches what isn't his, bangs and crashes and
sulks and pouts (anatomically tricky for a duck), entirely undermining the parental/elder-sibling authority
of the presenter. He is the apotheosis of nuisance.
(2A)
Comment on the effectiveness of the structure of the sentences in lines
25-27 ("Edd interrupts ... apotheosis of nuisance") in illustrating the
"childish monstrousness" of Edd. (2A)
General Advice
We are being asked to comment on how well the writer uses sentence
structure to show Edd’s "childish monstrousness".
Remember sentence structure?
 Sentence structure is about how the writer has put the sentence
together. (Look back at Features of Structure.)
Specific Advice
Go to the first sentence
‘Edd interrupts…’’
3. Look for one feature of the sentence structure – what is it? –
4. comment on how well the writer uses sentence structure to show
Edd’s "childish monstrousness".
In the same sentence
3. Look for another feature of the sentence structure – what is it?
4. comment on how well the writer uses sentence structure to show
Edd’s "childish monstrousness".
Continue in this step-by-step manner until you have written enough to
gain the full number of marks.
Helping Hand
The list is probably one of the features that you will identify and comment on.
However, once again, look closely at how the list is constructed: think about the
effect of the repetition of verb types and the introduction of the conjunction
("and").
Reinforcement Pack
Structure Questions
Contents
Example 4: Children’s Books
The pendulum in this game of literary reputations has begun to swing Marks
back towards Blyton. A rush of new editions of her best-loved stories
is making her centenary, and parents in Norwich have protested
against a city-centre library ban on Blyton. But her rehabilitation is at
best partial, and any respect accorded to her grudging. A soon-to-be
published book of essays by stars in the world of children’s literature
concedes that she told a ripping yarn, but goes on to pick holes in
every other aspect of her oeuvre.
Question: “But her rehabilitation..........accorded to her grudging.”
Explain fully the part that this sentence plays in the structure of
3
paragraph 3.
Example 5 This extract is taken from "New Ideas for Getting the Most
Out of Life". In it Mary Cooper explains how and why she intends to
continue to grow old "disgracefully". She counters the negative images associated
with woman's ageing by pointing up the positives of being "an old woman
who is not part of a couple but who is part of a (wider) social network"
When we are old there is more time for gossiping (men talk and discuss; women gossip,
don't they?). I see old women together arm in arm negotiating a slippery pavement or
rough steps. I see them with their trolleys gossiping together in the supermarket and I
rejoice that we have each other, that the older we grow the more women of our own age
there are around us. We are not going to be identified as "a growing social problem", as
the social commentators would have us labelled, but as a thriving, gossiping and defiant
sisterhood.
Question: How does the writer use sentence structure and punctuation
to make clear her point of view?
General Advice
We are being asked to comment on how the writer uses sentence
structure and punctuation to show how she feels about the
subject.
Remember sentence structure?
 Sentence structure is about how the writer has put the
sentence together. (Look back at Features of Structure.)
Specific Advice
Go to the first sentence‘(men talk and discuss; women gossip, don't they?).
Look for one feature of the sentence structure or punctuation –
what is it? – use of brackets? Balance in the structure? Use of
question? All three?
comment on how it shows her point of view
Go to the next two sentences
‘I see old women together arm in arm negotiating a slippery pavement or rough
steps. I see them with their trolleys gossiping’
5. Look for one feature of the sentence structure or punctuation
– what is it?
6. comment on how it shows her point of view
Checklist for tackling structure questions
Circle and/or explain
Identify the type of sentence.





statement
exclamation
command
minor sentence
verbless sentence
Does the writer use rhetorical
questions?
How is punctuation used to
divide up the sentence?
Do you notice anything about
the order of the words?
 inversion
 climax
 anti-climax
Does the author vary the
lengths of the sentences?
Is there an element of balance
between different parts of the
sentence?
Is parenthesis used?
Reinforcement Pack
 brackets
 dashes
Structure Questions
Contents
Reinforcement Pack
Structure Questions
Contents